Dog owners who walk dogs on a leash are often faced with a situation in which their dog has left solid excrement along the path of the walk. In many cities there are laws requiring pet owners to pick up pet excrement. A common method of dealing with such excrement is to carry one or more plastic bags that can be used to gather pet excrement. However, this is still distasteful to many people. Accordingly, what is needed is an apparatus useful for picking up dog or pet excrement from the ground that is clean, convenient, inexpensive and easy to use.